Monday, November 06, 2006

Some thoughts on what happened around the college football universe last Saturday...

OHIO STATE ALSO CAUGHT LOOKING AHEAD

Seems Michigan wasn't the only team looking ahead toward The Game on the 18th. After opening up a 17-0 lead at halftime, Ohio State held on for a 17-10 win against Illinois. In addition, Troy Smith had one of his worst statistical days, going 13-23 for 108 with no TDs and 1 INT while Antonio Pittman had just 58 yards on 32 carries.

After blowing out everybody else by what seemed like some theoretical number, this close call shows the team is human. Going to be very interesting to see how the Wolverines and Buckeyes respond in their final "tune ups" this weekend after both surviving tougher than expected games.

INSTANT CLASSIC

How 'bout that UT-LSU game? Wow. Whether or not you're a Vol or Tiger, LSU's last second 28-24 victory in Knoxville was a game that had all college football fans on the edge of their seat. The game had it all: Vol back-up QB Jonathan Crompton playing out of his mind after starter Erik Ainge went down, a 4th down conversion by the Tigers on their last drive and that last second pass...which didn't even look like it was intended for the receiver who caught it.

Whew!

SCREWED UP THE WAZOO

We were one of the first to include Washington State in our Top 25 a couple weeks ago, with the national polls following suit last week. And how do the Cougs show their gratitude for the MZone opening America's eyes to their impressive season? By getting bitch slapped at home by Arizona, 27-17.

Needless to say, don't look for WSU in our Top 25 this week.

PAY ATTENTION, LARRY COKER

After Pittsburgh tight end Darrell Strong scored a TD during the Panthers' loss to South Florida, Strong celebrated by making an obscene gesture at the South Florida crowd. He was flagged for a 15 yard penalty but Panther coach Dave Wannstedt didn't think that was enough, suspending Strong indefinitely.

"Our football program and university have very high standards and we will not tolerate the behavior Darrell Strong displayed today," Wannstedt said in a statement. "Darrell told me he regrets his actions but he must also be accountable. As a result, I am suspending him indefinitely. We expect our players to act with class and will accept nothing less."

Props to Wannstedt.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND...BUT NOT IN ANYBODY'S TOP 25

Does Georgia remind any Michigan fans out there of anyone? Like last year's version of the Wolverines?

They're currently 6-4, so they'll be making a bowl, but that's about the only accomplishment they'll be able to put on their resume from 2006. After losing to Kentucky 24-20 Saturday and Vanderbilt earlier, the Bulldogs lost to these two teams in the same season for the first time since Watergate.

Sure, just about every game UGA plays is close - which is good when you consider they lost to Florida by only 7 - but they've also beaten Colorado by only 1, Ole Miss by only 5 and Mississippi State by just 3. And with Auburn and Georgia Tech left on the schedule, this looks to be the worst Bulldog team since the 1996 squad went 5-6.

WISCO

After taking down Penn State 13-3 (and taking out Joe Paterno), Wisconsin is sitting pretty at 9-1. Must say, this result is making the U-M victory over the Badgers earlier this season look better and better each weekend.

And for those who may have missed it, Wisco coach Brett Bielema exploited the ridiculous Rule 3-2-5-e to his advantage at the end of the first half. The Wizard of Odds has the story, along with a YouTube clip of the whole thing.

HOW 'BOUT THEM HOGS?

After their 26-20 victory over South Carolina, Arkansas remains the only undefeated team in SEC play. Next up: Tennessee.

TEXAS

Have to say, we've been doubters of the Longhorns since they lost to OSU. But the continued steller play of QB Colt McCoy has us coming around. Last week against another OSU (Okie State), McCoy was 23 of 29 for 346 yards and 3 todays. To quote Borat: "Ve'y Niiiice."

20 comments:

Allaha
said...

Did others find it odd that LSU -- ranked much lower in the human polls -- was favored on the road against Tennessee? A number of people considered Tennessee to be the best one loss team in the country, yet they were underdogs at home to a team with two losses.

When I first saw the line, I was incredulous. It then occurred to me that Vegas knows (many) things that I do not . . . and of course they called the "upset."

You guys need to add Matthew Zemeck from collegefootballnews.com to your assclown list along with Drew boy. He has done nothing but rip Michigan all year. I thought it would start to slow down, but he always finds something. Following Michigan's narrow escape past Ball St, he rips them in his weekly affirmation column, but only hypes up OSU after narrowly beating Illinois. I will do the honors, Zemeck is an assclown!

So apparently Boise State will qualify for a BCS berth if it wins out. And you know what? I'm ok with that. First of all, they have beaten some tough teams, and by large margins. Early in the season, they destroyed 6-3 Oregon State. Sure, the Beavers aren't all that tough, but they did beat USC, so that will count in the computers. It could have been the blue turf. Then they beat Hawaii, which is actually a pretty good team. They've played some tougher teams than West Virginia has (other than Louisville), and the BCS bowl games are going to be infested with teams who play virtually no one and have no defense, so we might as well break the system even more.

Anyone else notice that Rutgers beat Zook's Illinois 33-0 early in the season?

allaha, Vegas and the NFL know that LSU is the most talented team in the country. The only reason this team is out of the BCS running is Les Myles. On draft day in April, let's see how many LSU players get picked.

I haven't bragged much about Colt McCoy this season, but he's really won me over with his performances the last three weeks. Buckeyes, if you played Texas right now, you'd see a MUCH improved quarterback. This kid is going to be something special.

I'll say it again: Houston Nutt is the voodoo witch doctor of college football. Arkansas leads the SEC in rushing (obviously, with a stud like Darren McFadden), but is dead last in the conference in time of possession. Huh?

The NCAA must do something about that stupid rule. What if some game comes down to the last 30 seconds and the kicking team goes offsides (like Wiscy did) by 5-10 yards 4 or 5 times? The game comes to an end without the other team getting the ball except on a return. Stupid rule, the NCAA should make some change right now.

I hated Bielema because of the way he dealt with his dirty player Kamoku (who twisted Breaston's knee after tackling him), but because of the way he exposed that idiotic rule so wonderfully, I now think he's okay.

Couldn't the receiving team simply decline the offsides penalty? Of course the kicking team gains the huge advantage of being down the field which makes a long return even more unlikely, but the receiving team will probably just have to eat it, even if it means starting on their own 5 yard line.

The flip side is that if someone tried to do that over and over you could keep trying to get the long return and if you get it just decline the penalty.

On your comments about Georgia, I was told that 4 out of 5 of the offensive lineman now are walkons the scholarship boys are all hurt. I also think the delay by Mark Richt in making a decision on the QB really hurt them down the stretch.

Also why isn't anybody making a big deal out of Auburn being so high in the BCS when Arkansas who beat them is nowhere near the top and their only loss was to USC. Somebody loves Auburn for whatever reason.

Anon 10:51, you're a freaking genius. Are they all like this where you're from? If practically any underdog that lost a game completed more passes, there would be a shit load more upsets. Nice of you to point out the obvious, while forgetting that the same is true for Ball State.

With regards to Arkansas (Hawgs) and their BCS rank compared to Auburn. Sure, Arkansas soundly put the wood to Auburn when they met. I wish like hell Auburn was even awake for that game, but it still counts. So why are the Hawgs ranked lower than Auburn? Well, for one, Auburn has beaten everyone else, including national contention teams LSU and UofF. Arkansas hasn't even played anyone tough yet except Auburn and SoCal (who smoked them), but damn near loss to the Cocks & Bama (who lost to Miss State - I can't laugh at that enough) and haven't played anyone else. Let's see if Arkansas can run their mini-gauntlet unscathed which continues over the next 2 games (LSU and Tenn) and then the SEC championship game if they're still unbeaten in conference before we start saying they deserve to be higher than Auburn.

Zemek's an assclown not for dissing Michigan, but because he is perhaps the worst writer I've seen who earns money for his writing. His articles read like bad freshmen comp essays; they're full of ridiculous self-importance, references to his authority, and, frankly, bullshit.

Ploeg: Especially if team exploits the rule in say, the BCS Title Game, or I-AA National Championship game...where you know its going to happen. If that happens, then the NCAA needs to put an asterisk next to the champ that says: "We f-cked up!"

I agree anon. Zemeck is not a good writer whatsoever. I didn't like him before last year and this year either. Now, he goes out of his way to take shots at Michigan. There are times they are deserved, but MOST times they are not. Hate to tell you King, but go back and read his articles, he literally goes out of his way to put Michigan down.

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